Orgran Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour. Use it IN PLACE OF regular flour. You just use the one flour - it is everything you need to substitute directly for reg. flour. It's the only flour I've found like that.
Brown Rice Pasta. You can find more than just penne now, I always stock spaghetti and penne. Add olive oil to the boiling water, monitor closely, and stir often. Or you end up with one big clump of pasta!
Edamame or Rice Crackers. DEE-licious with cheese or plain. I find edamame crackers at Trader Joe's, they are just like rice crackers which are also yummy and good for people who cannot have soy.
Quinoa! Make it like rice and put in it what you would put on rice. It's the easiest way to experiment with it then you will learn how it can add to your diet (not just having rice all the time). It can make a yummy and fluffy couscous or tabbouleh too.
Gluten-Free Bread. For sandwiches or for morning toast. You may have to try many before you find one you like - they are all different. Gluten-free bread is not all created equal like other bread!
San-J Tamari. Or another wheat-free soy sauce. Keep tamari in the fridge as it has no preservatives like regular soy sauce does.
Fage Yogurt, Yoplait Yo-Plus Yogurt, etc.. Find a gluten-free yogurt and keep it stocked up. I ALWAYS have Fage plain yogurt, the big one, in my fridge and add it to smoothies or have it with berries for breakfast, or have it plain with honey for a snack.
You might want to try Kefir. It has TONS of probiotics and live/active cultures (more than regular yogurt) and is really good for your belly. Might take having it a few times to get used to it in terms of taste (try mixing it with other things) and in terms of your belly (might grumble a bit while getting used to extra probiotics) but eventually it will make you feel better
And remember, if you want a sandwich or a burger you don't always need the bread. They are great as lettuce wraps or piled high on top of greens! Be sure you are getting enough fiber.

No, but if you are allergic to wheat that would come up. But you may not be, and allergy tests cannot identify autoimmune disorders. The only way to know if gluten is the culprit, if your tests came back negative, is success on a gluten-free diet.
Good luck!

I would suggest sending a letter to the teacher - something she can reference if she forgets or is confused.
In your letter explain your child has a diagnosed condition and must avoid all of the following, then list out obvious no-nos. Be sure to outline likely scenarios - like birthday cake in the classroom for some child's birthday. Maybe you can keep the teacher stocked up with gluten-free sweets in case this happens - so your child doesn't feel punished that he can't partake.
After that, list things that are considered safe, but must not be exposed to cross-contamination. Explain that cc can make your child equally as sick. You may want to call it a "serious allergy" as the word allergy tends to get people to be more cautious.
Then ask for her support in keeping your child healthy and safe in your absence, and thank her for her understanding and flexibility in the matter.
Take it with you when you drop off your child and I would suggest going early - give it to her and tell her the problem and that it is mostly outlined in the letter, but briefly explain to her what Celiac is, that it is not contagious, but is very serious. Also explain to her that if your child complains of a "tummy ache" or a headache, or any kind of pain and seems to be being bratty, whiny, etc, that it is likely part of the disease - and he ingested something he shouldn't have - and not his attempt at getting attention or that he is not taking school seriously. She should tell you at the end of the day if he behaved strangely or complained of a tummy ache, etc.
You won't scare the teacher, they get peanut allergy letters all the time and they understand how serious it is to make sure the child gets no peanut products. You need to emphasize this has the same severity and can make the child very sick if not monitored properly.
She is in charge of him while you are away - so she must take the job seriously. I'm sure she will.
Good luck and don't worry - kids put dirt in their mouths and live through it. He will learn immediately what makes him sick and won't want to do it again, should he get sick at school. And educating him before school starts is key.

The weight loss thing may be an indicator, because your body cannot absorb nutrients and basically starves itself. However, because of this same reason, you can end up with a severely distended stomach and not lose weight - just look puffy everywhere. For years we always thought my dad was overweight with a big belly. As soon as he went gluten-free, he lost the ENTIRE belly and gained exponentially more energy so he was better able and healthier to work out more at the gym - so all the weight came completely off. Now he is a 67 year old man who looks like a 50 year old athlete, but has the energy of a 30 year old athlete. He is very active and in amazing shape. Before he was overweight, had a heart and cholesterol condition, had a heart attack, had no energy and could barely swim and nearly drowned once (due to energy - not skill). Every single one of those reversed when he changed his diet. It is like a different man. He got so many years back.
For me, I am 5'8" and 120lbs, fit/thin build and I was skinny all through childhood. After going gluten-free I haven't had any weight change issues other than gaining a few pounds of lean muscle because my body is better able to absorb nutrients and I have more energy.
I would never look at an overweight person and tell them there is no way they have Celiac or gluten intolerance because of their weight. I think the way you feel and the symptoms you have is way more of an indicator - and remember all symptoms are symptoms you MAY experience. All of us on here have different symptoms. Even me and my dad - we are related by blood and have the same condition and do not experience it in exactly the same way.
So don't rule it out. Consider you may have it, but you may have some other condition going on as well which you should also not rule out.
Good luck

Also you said you were craving it because you haven't had it in a while.
If you haven't had McDonald's in a while, it is very very possible that part of your reaction is to just having McDonald's after not having it! Seriously - everything in McDonald's contains hydrogenated oil and it can make you very sick if your body has been "clean" of this type of thing for some time. If you eat gluten-free it is likely you have very little hydrogenated oil in your diet, which is a great thing - because it is absolutely terrible for you. (Trans fat). Before I went gluten-free (before I had any symptoms - years ago) I hadn't had McD in a very long time (I eat natural whole foods), then had a craving for the fries. I was sicker than I can remember. Same thing happened to other people I know. It's your body's way of saying "this trans fat oil is poison! I don't like it!" I definitely vomited just from the fries. Anyway, combine that with cross contamination issues and your sensitivity to potatoes and you have a major disaster on your hands. Hey, at least you learned your lesson right?? No more McDonald's!! It will be better for you in the end
Sorry you had to learn the hard way - but I did too. It happens. Feel better!!

For St Louis folks, Caito's just went gluten-free! They just completed a training for the entire kitchen and all staff on cross contamination and received some kind of accredidation/certification for doing so. I saw it in a national newsletter of restaurants that have done it.
I went to try it last week and was seriously impressed. The pizza (we got sausage) was really quite yummy. They also have pasta dishes with rice penne noodles that sound pretty yummy.
The waiter came out to us after we ordered our salads and said he had to have the salads remade because they accidentally put dinner rolls on the same plate. WOW was I impressed by that. In normal restaurant situations they would just remove the bread (or serve it to you with the bread on there anyway) but he came back to tell us they were making us entirely new salads. I thought that was a sure sign of them knowing the risks with cc. It seems like they went through some lengthy measures to ensure the safety of the kitchen environment. Even the gluten-free pizza was on a different type of serving apparatus so they clearly don't mix those with the regular pizzas.
Our experience was exceptional - the pizza was yummy and nobody got sick (dad and I are Celiac, mom and my fiance are not and we all went). It was quite a drive for us from downtown but well worth it!!
Check it out! http://www.caitosrestaurant.com/gluten-free/

I share symptoms with most already posted, with a few exceptions. Also my symptoms start within the hour usually, or sometimes after 2 hours. The "tummy rumblings" begin probably after 30 minutes but after an hour or two I'm really feeling awful and I'm certain it was gluten and not something else.
Exceptions for myself from what people posted:
--I do not get a skin rash, nor does my father. There are no visible signs for either of us.
--I am significantly more sensitive than my father to gluten, however he has more sensitivities than I do like MSG and chorizo sausage give him issues.
--Headaches are more than just headaches, they are migraines and they last well beyond the rest of my symptoms.
--My abdominal cramps feel almost like terrible/extreme menstrual cramps. My dad can't relate to this one, but for me that's what they feel like. Way "down deep" kind of twisting feeling cramps.
--Burping is my very first symptom, always.
--Weird "tightening" on my left side between my lowest rib and hip. Strange, and not painful but very uncomfortable, like I'm being poked in the side by something broad.
--Severe heartburn (not sure if someone mentioned it). I NEVER experience heartburn as I eat natural and never processed foods. I definitely get heartburn after a cc issue.
My symptoms last all day, and typically all the next day even though the 2nd day is much better. By the 3rd day I'm feeling normal enough to call it normal - even though my gluten-free normal is actually pretty GREAT.

Hey Karrin, let us know how this ends up because I have a pregnant girlfriend and she had spotting/clots almost EVERY month so far and she always goes in to the dr. panicked and she's just fine. She's about 7 months pregnant right now and still has bleeding issues but the baby is fine. Be sure first!! You might still be ok - I'm being a Positive Pam here.
As far as the miracle or weird timing, having celiac and damaging yourself by eating gluten absolutely can cause infertility. I've heard that with success in the diet, you can completely REVERSE that and boom - no more infertility issues! So eating gluten-free might be your ticket to not just a healthier digestive system but also reproductive system. If you did end up losing this baby I am confident that it will happen again for you and you will be healthy enough to carry it.
Good luck darling.

You may have gotten a false positive if you were tested (?), I can't even eat peanuts that say "manufactured on shared equipment with wheat" or I get violently ill. If I were to even eat bread in moderation I would swear I was dying. I took a bite of a bratwurst last month (no bun obv.) and swallowed it before I realized it tasted like pure beer - sick as a dog - one bite.
But with that said all people are different. But the way this works in your body I don't know that you could eat 'in moderation' without feeling some kind of effect, unless you are a sleeper Celiac which I hear also exists. To me they are like unicorns ( ) but I do hear that people can have it without actually feeling the effects.
If this is the case, you need to still be very very strict with your diet if you had a positive test, because even if you don't feel symptoms your small intestine is still breaking down and you expose yourself to a myriad of health-issues that you really won't want to deal with (higher cancer rate, infertility . . .)
Just my 2c! Best of luck!

Double ditto. I was glutened yesterday - ohhh the trauma - and I forced myself to the gym (I would normally go, but all I wanted to do was go home and cuddle with my puppy) and I felt better at the end. I was totally spaced out, my fiance is a trainer there and he was having trouble getting me to focus for more than a second, he had to lighten all of my weight, but I still did it and the lighter weight was plenty for my ravaged body. Towards the end I started to perk up, felt significantly (!!) more alert, and the pain and discomfort was beginning to subside. I went home and had plain yogurt and rested. So I discovered yesterday this is definitely a way to go!
Good luck.

YES I haven't felt it for the last month since going on the gluten-free diet. When starting gluten-free I felt completely better almost immediately. I'm talking the next day, in terms of all pain and gas and restroom issues as well. But I was sick all weekend from being glutened and the discomfort on the left definitely returned and I still feel it right now (also have a migraine).
VERY interesting! Thanks for your reply..

Hi Everyone,
I have seen some people comment about this in unrelated threads but I would like to try to get a bit deeper on this and have it's own thread, because what other people were saying piqued my interest as I never assumed it might be linked to gluten before.
On my left side (like actually my side, not just the side of my stomach), I sometimes find this discomfort (not 'pain'), as I describe to my fiance I say that it feels like my bottom rib and hip are almost "touching." That's the best I can describe it. I stretch far to the right to try to stretch it out, sometimes I find myself pressing my hand into my side, nothing helps but it's almost an involuntary reaction to try to "stretch" it out. I have scoliosis, so I assumed this was related to that (the spine curving and pushing the ribs and hips closer together on that side perhaps). However in posts long ago that I accidentally came across while people were talking about belly pain, some people seemed to possibly be describing this - so as I said I want to try to get a bit deeper on the subject and see if this might possibly be related to gluten.
I have been on a gluten-free diet for over 1 month and take the diet very seriously and strictly. It helps me more than I can describe. I was severely glutened this weekend THREE times (I typically eat very very strictly and make my own food). That's a different thread, but I've had it rough for a few days. I definitely felt the "rib and hip touching" feeling and still feel it now, as my stomach is still feeling the effects as well. After the last month I haven't really felt it but felt it regularly before going gluten-free.
Anyone out there who knows what I am talking about? Can you relate?
Tiff